Leisure time is even greater when it's synchronized with the leisure time of people in your life. That's why public holidays, weekend off, or conventions like summer holiday are so important
I retired last year, so in a way, I am on a “permanent vacation.” I love it. And it’s crazy how sped up the media is getting. Marshall McLuhan predicted it in the 1960s, but it’s difficult to live thru. Thanks for calling attention to it all.
A very interesting topic! Perhaps a planned situation, busyness keeps folks from time for a lot of activities like critical thinking or paying full attention the world around? Therefore more easily led??
I do feel like these two feed into one another. The busier you are, perhaps you also generally care less about things happening around you. You just focus on yourself and your own little bubble, and that's it.
It's really sickening to read there is no protection for holidays in USA, rest is not a luxury, it's an ontological right. In Spain there are 24 days of holidays per worked year for a regular 40h/w job, and it's protected by law. Plus some days here and there of holidays for celebration of some saint that no one cares about really but we cherish the day off in the name of this or that saint. I think this should be the norm globally. Of course Spain is not perfect cause we will need to talk about salaries and so on, but I lived in Germany for many years and now back to Spain, and let me tell you, in general, people in Spain live happier. I really don't know how Americans can keep their cool and not go mad under this conditions, poor people my god
We don't stay cool all the time... I had to expat before a small group of insurrectionists could literally murder me at my workplace... a 501c educational non-profit
jesus christ! sounds awful! Although I'm not surprised, if laws don't protect people, people are taken to their very limit, and this kind of behavior happens, people start to behave like animals. Anyways heads up! I really hope you are in a better situation now. Cheers
Oh, I'm not in the US anymore so life is definitely improving 😀
I do worry about my loved ones and the nation of my birth but I'm in Brotish Columbia awaiting my immigration hearings while we try to figure out where the frock 4 of us are gonna live in Septmber. Or October. Hopefully we find a place before then so we don't have to hire movers in the winter because I mostly bike Vancouver and left my car in New Brunswick 🙃 My waitlist for housing is only a year but the one for the citizens is 2+ years. And I already notified the ministry about the illegal actions of the owners who has many a property scam going on. As of now, we may be squatting here still early next year if we can't get out before October, so I may have to email the CPC for a public forum pressure led investigation, as their neighbkjr is also upset by the actions of this individual; they've lived beside the family for 10 years while this family paid someone else's Airbnb scam.
Surveyors of despair, they are, so despite being denied permits, they decided to renovict. They also own a constriction company so I know not to apply nearby at any of the companies caught on rhe security footage. They've been harassing the disabled pensioners here for 5 years and 3 people died who lived here, 2 of them within the brief period that I've been helping them pack and downsize. Not an accusation, per se, but one of those deaths was ruled a homicide and one required a forensics report for cause of death, and so is unspecified but not being pursued. 2 of those deaths, including the murder and toxic analysis death... were the people who lived here where I'm currently working, and I knew one personally... I raced around on my bike looking for him when he didn't come home but was too late. A few days later the slumlord ripped the roof off that had been by that individuals window so it just doesn't make any sense to me given how I've been treated without cause by this same owner simply for biking groceries over from the market down the road. The ones I know for sure are their friends are the ones who worry me. The actual workers who are probably underpaid have been respectful... AFTER they smashed parts of our thriving food-prkducing community garden.
It's a bunch of weirdness since I've never been to thos province but it's how BC is maybe? The sprawl foe the homeless in central Vancouver by the needle exchange stretches for miles. You've got slumlords demolishing properties after overcharging immigrants or the elderly before demolishing to rent to their fellow rich, strange men asking me if I want to be their sugar baby, and then you've got the police guarding the homeless who are urinating in buckets outside the help centers and offering unspecified drugs to passersby who are new. Anti-immigration graffiti by many immigrant friendly non-profits.
And then there's Elon, whose scams I've screenshotted for others. There's Bezos who has allowed me, a former employee, to join Arrived bit excludes international... the price point for some areas jumps to 10x the cost by just a few moles due to borderlines.
Then you've got TX busing immigrants to NY so they can send them to QC, further compounding linguistics issues now that the Bloq has made new laws for QC to exclude Canadian born citizens who don't speak French as well as immigrants who don't speak French... which can be difficult with Spanish speakers because of similar/sounds with quite separate word meanings. Then you've got Elon, who charges Canadians a hefty fee for investing with him in order to control the US market via cryptocurrency and tax shelters for his companies; he may be assisting with cryptoscams which are untraceable by keeping BTC stable as a go between for other forms of NFT payment, including but not limited to, magacoin, eth, steam, doge.
Oh my, didn't mean to type so much at dawn but the tl;dr is that in definitely doing better here and my husband is an amazing guy.
Yes, unfortunately it was in a red state which has long held that only specific humans have rights, and for reproduction rights, even before Roe V Wade was overturned, a girl had to be 27 for assistance in tubal ligation or already have birthed two children. Oh, but it's legal for the cops to arrest a child there for being in child porn. Also legal to marry you off to your abuser at 11 so that your children have two parents. It's not as if they did much to my traffickers except give them promotions? I'm very burned out but I'm also thriving and loving my new spouse. I get to remind people that this same state just took Truml to the courts through many lawsuits. I get to remind people that $1 an hour is a legal wage for the marginalized. Oh, but that subsidy isn't used to help feed the poor, it goes to the corporations who underpay and pocket the difference. Oh, but Trump also redefined supplemental income so he could force backpack from anyone who had unreported income of $1 or more an hour in order to ensure they suffered, even if that income was a grandparent holding lots of FB marketplace sales with their grandkids. Oh, but didn't he also benefit from evading taxes and mocking the death of RGB for donations mere hours after she passed? Oh wait, right, the groomers within the Church of Hrist can shotgun wedding you as conversion therapy and receive tax havens for it... wasn't there supposed to be a separation of church and state and an abolishing of slavery?????? When is that going to happen, Tennessee, you crusty old crappoodles of the loser confederacy?
I work part time and my partner works full time for an organisation that is very generous with paid holidays and flexitime so we're very lucky with that. I know many people though who seem to have no free time at all, because of the work expectations put on them
I've become fascinated by the Italian way of living and I've been trying to incorporate some of it into my own life, but it is HARD when America just isn't made for stillness. I'm proud that many of gen z & millennials are starting to reject hustle culture, the sped-up genre of it all, etc etc because honestly how much more can we take? Our brains were literally not made to consume so much information at once, and I am certain information overload is greatly contributing to our loneliness and anxiety.
How do you write the most interesting and well-written articles?! I have a theory now, you're actually a team of 9 and your pen name are the initials. Conspiracy. Also, I am glad you got to experience Milan when it's hot and empty! It's a strange reality, isn't it?!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle of every day life and not even realize it until you do take a moment to slow down. I notice how much better I feel when I can take time to be outside for no reason other than to enjoy it, make slow dinners rather than rushing to eat, etc. And also how much better I feel when I’m not scrolling just to scroll! I think this topic is super interesting. Was it the same article you linked that discussed how we actually DO have more free time, we just feel the need to fill it? I remember an article discussing how errands and chores used to take more time. For example, we had to go to the bank, talk to a person, wait for them to deposit or withdraw our money. Then we had to drive to the store to look around for one clothing item. Then we had to stop at the grocery and do all of the shopping. Or go to a pharmacy to pick up a medication. Now we can deposit that check from home, order our groceries on the phone and have them delivered or swing by and pick them up, have our medication delivered, and order that specific pair of jeans online. So things that used to take half a day now take 20 minutes. But our bodies and brains don’t know what to do with the extra time, so we add more and more to schedule to feel fulfilled. All while distancing ourselves from human interaction, leaving us lonely despite constantly consuming. It definitely reminded me to slow down and make an effort to go into stores, not use self checkout, etc!
My partner is from Milan too :) I've lived in Milan during summer and it's true, EVERYTHING dies in August. My shoe broke and I couldn't find a shoe repair shop that was open mid-August. But there is a downside to this. When I was working in Milan, we were forced to take our holiday during August. No June or September allowed. This, of course, meant that going on vacation became much, much pricier and shorter holidays became a necessity. The rest of the year, you were also expected to work unpaid overtime constantly - just like in London. We got told off for going on "long" lunch breaks, but no one moved from their desks at 6pm (that's right, six, not five). There was this tacit expectation that everyone would partake in this silent contest of who could stay in the office the longest and send the most emails on the weekends. Mediterranean countries aren't always that much "slower" or more relaxed than the UK.
True, they aren't always slower—or at least not consistently. I feel like the attitudes toward work in the south of Italy tend to differ from those among people in the north.
Such a great and timely article. I’m currently on a break from corporate life as I saw an opportunity to pause from the corporate world for some weeks and am loving it.
It really is a luxury to pause and think and can’t help thinking about those “holidays” executives used to have to be able to do just that. It so important to be able to pause and evaluate what one is doing.
My concern with the pace of things is what it is doing to our sense of patience or ability to focus. Inputs from so many directions at light speed seems to be causing attention deficit in addition to the other concerns raised.
Breaks should be intentional to quiet the mind and let it rest for in that, we discover solutions to actual problems without actually thinking about them. Being able to stop, calibrate, recharge and refire are essential for long term satisfaction and happy I’ve done so now. Definitely changes how I’d engage when I resume.
Likewise in Athens. Interesting linking rapid editing with overwork. Both are kind of like unhealthy compulsions. But when you step back and digest slower, only then can you grow.
And it isn’t just 8 hours. The daily commute used to snip another 2.5 hours a day off my time. I really don’t know how I survived so long pre-hybrid working (actually, two nervous breakdowns perhaps suggest I wasn’t!)
I lived in Italy for three years. I bought the book "La Figura" some time that I've yet to read that touches on the lovelier aspects of Italian living. I miss my time there immensely. And yet, I remember feeling that whenever my husband had time off we *had to do something* Some of this was based in knowing our time where was limited and I wanted to see as much of Europe as possible. But another part of that is the American suspicion of too much down time. You must also be doing something.
I'm in my mid-30s, so certifiably an adult, and just now getting a sense of the kind of work I want to do. I often think about the mad rush to have one's entire life figured out by age 25. In other words, I think the break-neck pace of social media and our media culture are a just a reflection/real time manifestation of the culture's values. Speed. Overconsumption. The hunt for the next big things. I think are are upsides to it, but we really should contemplate the downsides we seem to be experiencing more, such as you did here.
Okay, but this is very important info. I'm a paid and sponsored/partnered Influencer online via corporation and non-profits... I'm also a paid tiktok blogger, have a monetized Meta, monetized Twitch and work for Bexos on 4 distinct platforms.
Stuff like this... I used to get paid a lot more but then the whole fake news thing made it harder so I don't post a whole lot now and instead am finalizing prototypes to drop soon. In this day and age everything is hustle or die, etc.
Leisure time is even greater when it's synchronized with the leisure time of people in your life. That's why public holidays, weekend off, or conventions like summer holiday are so important
That's such a good point.
I retired last year, so in a way, I am on a “permanent vacation.” I love it. And it’s crazy how sped up the media is getting. Marshall McLuhan predicted it in the 1960s, but it’s difficult to live thru. Thanks for calling attention to it all.
my dad is retired and I'm honestly so envious of his permanent vacation lol
Retirement is the best job I ever had.
A very interesting topic! Perhaps a planned situation, busyness keeps folks from time for a lot of activities like critical thinking or paying full attention the world around? Therefore more easily led??
I do feel like these two feed into one another. The busier you are, perhaps you also generally care less about things happening around you. You just focus on yourself and your own little bubble, and that's it.
It's really sickening to read there is no protection for holidays in USA, rest is not a luxury, it's an ontological right. In Spain there are 24 days of holidays per worked year for a regular 40h/w job, and it's protected by law. Plus some days here and there of holidays for celebration of some saint that no one cares about really but we cherish the day off in the name of this or that saint. I think this should be the norm globally. Of course Spain is not perfect cause we will need to talk about salaries and so on, but I lived in Germany for many years and now back to Spain, and let me tell you, in general, people in Spain live happier. I really don't know how Americans can keep their cool and not go mad under this conditions, poor people my god
We don't stay cool all the time... I had to expat before a small group of insurrectionists could literally murder me at my workplace... a 501c educational non-profit
jesus christ! sounds awful! Although I'm not surprised, if laws don't protect people, people are taken to their very limit, and this kind of behavior happens, people start to behave like animals. Anyways heads up! I really hope you are in a better situation now. Cheers
Oh, I'm not in the US anymore so life is definitely improving 😀
I do worry about my loved ones and the nation of my birth but I'm in Brotish Columbia awaiting my immigration hearings while we try to figure out where the frock 4 of us are gonna live in Septmber. Or October. Hopefully we find a place before then so we don't have to hire movers in the winter because I mostly bike Vancouver and left my car in New Brunswick 🙃 My waitlist for housing is only a year but the one for the citizens is 2+ years. And I already notified the ministry about the illegal actions of the owners who has many a property scam going on. As of now, we may be squatting here still early next year if we can't get out before October, so I may have to email the CPC for a public forum pressure led investigation, as their neighbkjr is also upset by the actions of this individual; they've lived beside the family for 10 years while this family paid someone else's Airbnb scam.
Surveyors of despair, they are, so despite being denied permits, they decided to renovict. They also own a constriction company so I know not to apply nearby at any of the companies caught on rhe security footage. They've been harassing the disabled pensioners here for 5 years and 3 people died who lived here, 2 of them within the brief period that I've been helping them pack and downsize. Not an accusation, per se, but one of those deaths was ruled a homicide and one required a forensics report for cause of death, and so is unspecified but not being pursued. 2 of those deaths, including the murder and toxic analysis death... were the people who lived here where I'm currently working, and I knew one personally... I raced around on my bike looking for him when he didn't come home but was too late. A few days later the slumlord ripped the roof off that had been by that individuals window so it just doesn't make any sense to me given how I've been treated without cause by this same owner simply for biking groceries over from the market down the road. The ones I know for sure are their friends are the ones who worry me. The actual workers who are probably underpaid have been respectful... AFTER they smashed parts of our thriving food-prkducing community garden.
It's a bunch of weirdness since I've never been to thos province but it's how BC is maybe? The sprawl foe the homeless in central Vancouver by the needle exchange stretches for miles. You've got slumlords demolishing properties after overcharging immigrants or the elderly before demolishing to rent to their fellow rich, strange men asking me if I want to be their sugar baby, and then you've got the police guarding the homeless who are urinating in buckets outside the help centers and offering unspecified drugs to passersby who are new. Anti-immigration graffiti by many immigrant friendly non-profits.
And then there's Elon, whose scams I've screenshotted for others. There's Bezos who has allowed me, a former employee, to join Arrived bit excludes international... the price point for some areas jumps to 10x the cost by just a few moles due to borderlines.
Then you've got TX busing immigrants to NY so they can send them to QC, further compounding linguistics issues now that the Bloq has made new laws for QC to exclude Canadian born citizens who don't speak French as well as immigrants who don't speak French... which can be difficult with Spanish speakers because of similar/sounds with quite separate word meanings. Then you've got Elon, who charges Canadians a hefty fee for investing with him in order to control the US market via cryptocurrency and tax shelters for his companies; he may be assisting with cryptoscams which are untraceable by keeping BTC stable as a go between for other forms of NFT payment, including but not limited to, magacoin, eth, steam, doge.
Oh my, didn't mean to type so much at dawn but the tl;dr is that in definitely doing better here and my husband is an amazing guy.
Yes, unfortunately it was in a red state which has long held that only specific humans have rights, and for reproduction rights, even before Roe V Wade was overturned, a girl had to be 27 for assistance in tubal ligation or already have birthed two children. Oh, but it's legal for the cops to arrest a child there for being in child porn. Also legal to marry you off to your abuser at 11 so that your children have two parents. It's not as if they did much to my traffickers except give them promotions? I'm very burned out but I'm also thriving and loving my new spouse. I get to remind people that this same state just took Truml to the courts through many lawsuits. I get to remind people that $1 an hour is a legal wage for the marginalized. Oh, but that subsidy isn't used to help feed the poor, it goes to the corporations who underpay and pocket the difference. Oh, but Trump also redefined supplemental income so he could force backpack from anyone who had unreported income of $1 or more an hour in order to ensure they suffered, even if that income was a grandparent holding lots of FB marketplace sales with their grandkids. Oh, but didn't he also benefit from evading taxes and mocking the death of RGB for donations mere hours after she passed? Oh wait, right, the groomers within the Church of Hrist can shotgun wedding you as conversion therapy and receive tax havens for it... wasn't there supposed to be a separation of church and state and an abolishing of slavery?????? When is that going to happen, Tennessee, you crusty old crappoodles of the loser confederacy?
😱😱😱😱 I'm horrified.
I work part time and my partner works full time for an organisation that is very generous with paid holidays and flexitime so we're very lucky with that. I know many people though who seem to have no free time at all, because of the work expectations put on them
I've become fascinated by the Italian way of living and I've been trying to incorporate some of it into my own life, but it is HARD when America just isn't made for stillness. I'm proud that many of gen z & millennials are starting to reject hustle culture, the sped-up genre of it all, etc etc because honestly how much more can we take? Our brains were literally not made to consume so much information at once, and I am certain information overload is greatly contributing to our loneliness and anxiety.
Yup, it really doesn't seem like our brains are wired for this pace and all this information we consume every single day.
How do you write the most interesting and well-written articles?! I have a theory now, you're actually a team of 9 and your pen name are the initials. Conspiracy. Also, I am glad you got to experience Milan when it's hot and empty! It's a strange reality, isn't it?!
I swear it's just me and my cat here 😅 It definitely felt a bit strange, but I really enjoyed the city like this. So quiet and serene.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle of every day life and not even realize it until you do take a moment to slow down. I notice how much better I feel when I can take time to be outside for no reason other than to enjoy it, make slow dinners rather than rushing to eat, etc. And also how much better I feel when I’m not scrolling just to scroll! I think this topic is super interesting. Was it the same article you linked that discussed how we actually DO have more free time, we just feel the need to fill it? I remember an article discussing how errands and chores used to take more time. For example, we had to go to the bank, talk to a person, wait for them to deposit or withdraw our money. Then we had to drive to the store to look around for one clothing item. Then we had to stop at the grocery and do all of the shopping. Or go to a pharmacy to pick up a medication. Now we can deposit that check from home, order our groceries on the phone and have them delivered or swing by and pick them up, have our medication delivered, and order that specific pair of jeans online. So things that used to take half a day now take 20 minutes. But our bodies and brains don’t know what to do with the extra time, so we add more and more to schedule to feel fulfilled. All while distancing ourselves from human interaction, leaving us lonely despite constantly consuming. It definitely reminded me to slow down and make an effort to go into stores, not use self checkout, etc!
My partner is from Milan too :) I've lived in Milan during summer and it's true, EVERYTHING dies in August. My shoe broke and I couldn't find a shoe repair shop that was open mid-August. But there is a downside to this. When I was working in Milan, we were forced to take our holiday during August. No June or September allowed. This, of course, meant that going on vacation became much, much pricier and shorter holidays became a necessity. The rest of the year, you were also expected to work unpaid overtime constantly - just like in London. We got told off for going on "long" lunch breaks, but no one moved from their desks at 6pm (that's right, six, not five). There was this tacit expectation that everyone would partake in this silent contest of who could stay in the office the longest and send the most emails on the weekends. Mediterranean countries aren't always that much "slower" or more relaxed than the UK.
True, they aren't always slower—or at least not consistently. I feel like the attitudes toward work in the south of Italy tend to differ from those among people in the north.
Such a great and timely article. I’m currently on a break from corporate life as I saw an opportunity to pause from the corporate world for some weeks and am loving it.
It really is a luxury to pause and think and can’t help thinking about those “holidays” executives used to have to be able to do just that. It so important to be able to pause and evaluate what one is doing.
My concern with the pace of things is what it is doing to our sense of patience or ability to focus. Inputs from so many directions at light speed seems to be causing attention deficit in addition to the other concerns raised.
Breaks should be intentional to quiet the mind and let it rest for in that, we discover solutions to actual problems without actually thinking about them. Being able to stop, calibrate, recharge and refire are essential for long term satisfaction and happy I’ve done so now. Definitely changes how I’d engage when I resume.
Likewise in Athens. Interesting linking rapid editing with overwork. Both are kind of like unhealthy compulsions. But when you step back and digest slower, only then can you grow.
Truly enjoyed this one, Katie! 💡
Oh hi there! 👋
And it isn’t just 8 hours. The daily commute used to snip another 2.5 hours a day off my time. I really don’t know how I survived so long pre-hybrid working (actually, two nervous breakdowns perhaps suggest I wasn’t!)
I lived in Italy for three years. I bought the book "La Figura" some time that I've yet to read that touches on the lovelier aspects of Italian living. I miss my time there immensely. And yet, I remember feeling that whenever my husband had time off we *had to do something* Some of this was based in knowing our time where was limited and I wanted to see as much of Europe as possible. But another part of that is the American suspicion of too much down time. You must also be doing something.
I'm in my mid-30s, so certifiably an adult, and just now getting a sense of the kind of work I want to do. I often think about the mad rush to have one's entire life figured out by age 25. In other words, I think the break-neck pace of social media and our media culture are a just a reflection/real time manifestation of the culture's values. Speed. Overconsumption. The hunt for the next big things. I think are are upsides to it, but we really should contemplate the downsides we seem to be experiencing more, such as you did here.
Okay, but this is very important info. I'm a paid and sponsored/partnered Influencer online via corporation and non-profits... I'm also a paid tiktok blogger, have a monetized Meta, monetized Twitch and work for Bexos on 4 distinct platforms.
Stuff like this... I used to get paid a lot more but then the whole fake news thing made it harder so I don't post a whole lot now and instead am finalizing prototypes to drop soon. In this day and age everything is hustle or die, etc.